The Utah Jazz couldn’t have been clearer to start the season. This team is prioritizing its youth.
During media day interviews, coaches and executives alike cited the seven players under the age of 23 who will be the focal point for the team this year.
That includes third-year center Walker Kessler.
But John Collins couldn’t have been clearer in his media day session: He considers himself a starter.
“I definitely love being a starter,” Collins said. “That’s definitely something that I take pride in and value, going out and being one of those guys who starts the game off with energy, intensity, fire, and setting the tone. I enjoy that and it’s definitely something that I hold dear, for sure.”
So the question is: Will Kessler start, or will Collins?
“There’s a lot of factors that go into making the decision at five — Walker, John, or Drew [Eubanks], who is it?” said head coach Will Hardy, throwing even another contender in the mix. The team signed the 27-year-old Eubanks to a two-year, $10 million contract this offseason, though the second year is non-guaranteed.
For his part, Kessler says he’ll play whatever role the team asks of him.
“I’m not going to really get caught up in that,” he said. “I’m just going to control what I can control, you know, attack it every day. Be a pro. Play hard, you know, and do whatever role coach needs me to do.”
Kessler has started about half of his career games, including 40 starts in his rookie season of 2022-23. That season, the Jazz outscored opponents with him in the lineup to start games by 1.6 points per 100 possessions.
In 2023-24, however, the Jazz were outscored by 11.1 points per 100 possessions with Kessler on the floor in the 22 games he started, per NBA.com. The complicating factor: most of those starts saw him play alongside John Collins, as the Jazz played an ultra-big lineup that pushed Lauri Markkanen to the small forward position. And those lineups were absolutely dominated; being outscored by a whopping 17.1 points per 100 possessions when they were on the floor together.
“We saw Walker play with the starters some last year. We saw John play a bunch with the starters last year, and there were things that we learned about both of those situations,” Hardy said. “Obviously, the team now is a little bit different than it was then, but we try to look at that group of games from last year and see what we see and try to learn from not only the film but the analytics.”
The failure of the ultra-big approach has largely pushed the Jazz to believe that the two are best playing separately. And as a result, there’s a decision looming.
On paper, Kessler gives Utah the push toward youth and a higher-functioning defense, though Collins holds the clear advantage offensively thanks to his ability to space the floor.
But to Hardy, the distinction of starter isn’t that important.
“I’ve talked with you guys since I got here about how everybody gets really amped up about starter versus non-starter. To me, it’s — we have 48 minutes. Let’s make the team function the best we can.”
While it may not matter too much to the head coach who starts and who comes off the bench — remember, one of the San Antonio product’s favorite-ever players is Hall of Fame sixth man Manu Ginobili — Hardy went on to give Kessler the majority of the props when discussing the starting battle.
“I think Walker has had a really good summer. I think he’s had a really good open gym. I think he’s had a really good first day of practice, but we’ve got to get to opening night,” the coach said. “Obviously, we have to make the decision before then, but I would anticipate seeing Walker play with the quote-unquote starters a lot during preseason, and we’ll see how it functions.”
